Step 2: Progressing Your Event

You’re at a great place in making progress with your event plans. Use your Digital Event Planning Check List to track your progress, completed actions and deadlines. This should be shared in your regional shared Google Drive so members of the Board and CMI Events can track progress and offer support if required. Have you secured your speakers? It is important that you confirm your event speaker(s) and host(s). Decide who will be your speaker liaison - this is the person who will communicate with your speaker(s). This can be someone from the Board or the CMI Events team. The speaker liaison will then send an initial invitation email. This email is to explore their willingness and availability to participate, giving them a high level overview of the event and their proposed role and/or contributions. Once they have confirmed, please request a high resolution headshot photograph (JPEG format) and short biography (80-100 words) that we can use for the promotional marketing of the event. Please also secure the same items from your event host or facilitator.

Please note: As a registered charity, CMI is unable to offer a fee or honorarium to speakers. However, as a token of our appreciation we are pleased to offer free CMI membership for three months to speakers who are non members.

The content of the speaker’s presentation and/or panel conversation should focus on the topic in question and although they may refer to their business or services, it should still be in context with the event and any such reference(s) should be brief.

Host: A member of the CMI Events team will provide the housekeeping intro and outro. A representative from the Regional Board should take the main hosting role and facilitate the Q&A at the end. Your early discussions should establish who will take this hosting role for the live event.

Outline a draft agenda for your event specifying times and activities. Use the Digital Event Agenda Template to assist you in making a start.

Don’t forget to ask for a high res headshot and short biography from the speaker

Step 3: Promotion

The CMI Events team will use the information you submit to ensure relevant and bespoke event assets are designed by our inhouse marketing team. These assets will be used for Eventbrite, social media and other avenues for promotion. Once these have been designed they will be shared with you to assist you and the Board in your promotion of the event via your Regional LinkedIn/ Twitter pages and personal networks.

CMI Events will start promotion via member communications and will ensure your event is listed and published on Eventbrite and the CMI website.

Depending on the nature of your event, targeted mailings for specific CMI member groups can be arranged.

Step 4: Event Lead Up

CMI Events will provide you with weekly booking number updates via email, enabling you to monitor progress of registrations.

CMI Events will draft host(s) and speaker(s) briefing documents which will include details about the event, their role, the agenda and any other key information. Once completed this will be shared with the host(s), speaker(s) and all participants.

Alongside the briefing document, a briefing call and tech rehearsal should be arranged to discuss the event in detail, to answer any questions that your speaker(s) may have. It will also allow time for orientation of our streaming platform. This call should be scheduled for approx 30 mins, CMI Events will be able to organise this for you and send a calendar invite. Following the call, if there are any agreed changes to the agenda or speaker roles, the briefing documents will be updated and re-distributed at least seven days prior to the event date.

Event assets designed by our in-house marketing team

We ensure your event is listed, published and promoted correctly on required platforms

Step 5: The Event

The event day has arrived and you’re about to see how all of your hard work and planning comes to life during your event. Speaker(s), host(s) and CMI Events to join Streamyard 30 mins ahead of start time for final checks and event run through.

Throughout the event there will be various calls to action (CTAs) displayed on screen (ticker) and posted in the live chat box on YouTube for our online audience. Members of the events team will manage this process, and monitor the live chat and all technical aspects of the event, so that speakers and hosts can focus on delivering quality content.

During the Q&A, CMI Events in conjunction with your host, will moderate, star and select any suitable live audience questions which will be displayed on screen.

Once the live stream has ended, we ask that all participants stay online for a short debrief.

Most importantly, ensure that you enjoy the event as much as possible!

Step 6: The Follow-up

Your CMI Event lead will send an email to your speaker(s), thanking them for participating in the event, and requesting that they complete our Speaker Feedback Form

CMI Events will also send a follow-up email to all attendees which will include relevant resources, slides, a link to the evaluation form, calls to action and promote any relevant upcoming CMI Events. We will also share event and evaluation data with the regional board.

You’ve successfully organised, and delivered a CMI Regional digital event! Congratulations and thank you for your hard work and contributions to the continued success of CMI within your region and beyond.

Follow up emails sent to all attendees

Congratulations! You have now successfully delivered a CMI Regional Digital Event